Mary Wick

Mrs Mary Wick (née Hitchcock)

Mrs George Dennick Wick (Mary Hitchcock), 45, was born on 12th October 1866 in Ohio, the daughter of W. Hitchcock. The Hitchcocks owned iron works in Youngstown, Ohio.

Mary, known to her friends as Mollie, was the second wife (married 1896) of George Dennick Wick. George had a daughter Mary Natalie Wick from his previous marriage and on July 29, 1897 (in Youngstown) Mollie gave birth to a son George Dennick Wick, Jr. In 1900, George Jr. was living with his grandmother at her home on Wick Avenue in Youngstown, Mahoning County, Ohio. He died in Brecksville, Ohio in April of 1971.

Mollie boarded the Titanic in Southampton travelling in first class with her husband, daughter Natalie Wick, her husband's cousin's daughter Caroline Bonnell, and Elizabeth Bonnell.

When the collision occurred, Mrs Wick thought that a boiler had exploded. They were in their stateroom when her daughter and Caroline Bonnell came to tell them that the Titanic had struck an ice berg. Mr Wick declared that nothing could be wrong. Later, a crewmember must have told them to put on their life preservers and go up on deck. There, they were met by Natalie and Caroline. Caroline went below to bring her aunt Elizabeth up on deck. Then the Wicks and Bonnells waited. The women were placed into lifeboat 8. Mollie Wick looked up and watched her husband stand at the rail and wave goodbye. They drifted about for five hours in the cold before being rescued by the Carpathia.

Mrs Wick's name was not on the initial lists of survivors and the Ohio newspapers speculated that she had died. George Jr. did not find out his mother had survived until several days after the sinking. He and William F. Bonnell were among the family members that travelled to New York City to meet the Carpathia. When they applied for tickets to enter the restricted area, they found that dozens of reporters had already claimed tickets as family members.

Mrs Wick refused to believe that her husband George was lost and remained in New York for several days with her family awaiting news.